Locating Business & Economics Information at the Library of Congress

Business Reference Services is the starting point for conducting research in the subject areas of business and economics. Supported by a reference collection of over 20,000 volumes, a network of subscription databases, and the Adams Building Computer Catalog Center, reference specialists in specific subject areas of business assist the patron in formulating search strategies and gaining access to the information and materials contained in the Library's rich collections, which, depending on format, language and geographical areas, or specific subject matter, may be serviced in one or more Library reading rooms, located in the Madison, Jefferson, or Adams buildings.

For more detailed information on locating business information at the Library of Congress and a guide to titles on reference in the Business Reading Room, please consult A Guide to Finding Business Information at the Library of Congress

Language and Geographical Areas

With the exception of legal materials, which must be requested in the Law Library regardless of language, current and retrospective business resources in Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian languages must be requested in the Asian Reading Room, while those in Arabic, Hebraic, Turkish, and other Middle-eastern and African languages must be requested in the African and Middle Eastern Reading Room.

Current periodicals in Slavic and Baltic languages should be requested in the European Reading Room. Retrospective materials in Slavic languages which relate to business and economics are considered to be part of the General Collections and should be requested from the Book Services desk managed by the Collections Access, Loan Management Division (CALM) on the 5th floor or the Adams Building or in the Main Reading Room in the Thomas Jefferson building. With the exception of recent issues of approximately 100 business journals on reference in Business Reference Services, current periodicals and journals in English and other western languages should be requested from the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room in the Madison Building.

Depending on their particular needs, patrons interested in business and economics research relating to countries outside of the United States may also find it useful to speak with librarians in the Area Studies Reading Rooms including the African and Middle Eastern Reading Room, the Asian Reading Room, the European Reading Room, and the Hispanic Reading Room.

Formats

Depending on the specific research topic, resources in a variety of formats may be of interest to the business and economics researcher. To use materials in some of these formats, the researcher will need to go to locations other than the Business Reading Room. Some of the more frequently requested types of materials requested by business researchers include:

Microform

Business-related publications in microform are found in several of the Library's reading rooms.

Corporate annual reports from the SEC and the Q-FILE (1980- ) as well as two earlier series covering the pre-1974 period and the period, 1974-1983 are available in Business Reference Services. Annual reports in microopaque and microfiche issued by Microcard and NCR (1957-1965) are available in the Microform Reading Room. Other microfiche collections available in Business Reference Services include: Dun's Business Identification Service, microfiche of the National Union Catalog (1983- ), and the Library of Congress Shelflist (1976).

A number of journals are available full text in microformat in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room. Legal titles in microformat are available from the Law Library on the second floor of the Madison building.

Other titles of interest to the business researcher available in microform may be identified from A Guide to the Microform Collections in the Humanities and Social Sciences Division of the Library of Congress.

Patents

The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) is the U.S. government agency responsible for the issuance of patents and the registration of trademarks. In addition to books containing general information about the patent and trademark process, the Science Reference Services, adjacent to Business Reference on the 5th floor of the Adams Building at the Library of Congress, has several published indexes useful for searching for information about early patents, including the Subject matter index of patents issued by the United States Patent Office from 1790 to 1873..., the Index of trade-marks issued from the United States Patent Office ; and the Index of patents issued from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Only the most recent year or years of the latter two titles are kept in the reading room. Earlier volumes are part of the General Collections and should be requested from the Book Services desk managed by the Collections Access, Loan Management Division (CALM) on the 5th floor or the Adams Building.

Current information about obtaining patents or registering a trademark is available from the Patent and Trademark Office, 2121 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA 22202 (Phone: 703-305-8341) and on the PTO website. The website also includes several searchable databases: the US Patent Full Text Database of US patents issued from January 1, 1976 to the present; the US Patent Bibliographic Database of front-page information from US patents issued from January 1, 1976 to the present; and the AIDS Patent Database, containing the full text and images of selected AIDS-related patents issued by the US, Japanese and European patent offices. The site also contains a list of public and academic libraries around the United States serving as Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries.

Government Publications

Local, state, and national governments produce many useful business reference sources, especially statistical ones. Many non-current United States census publications may be requested on the fifth floor of the Adams Building. In addition, many U.S. government publications published since 1976 are available in the U.S. depository collection serviced in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room, Room LM 133 James Madison Building. This room also services the Library's set of United Nations documents (useful for international trade, production, and national account statistics). UN documents may be searched online through AccessUN, which provides access to current and retrospective United Nations documents and publications, from 1996-present.

The statistical publications of many international organizations are indexed in the Statistical Masterfile CD ROM, available in the Main Reading Room. Many of the publications indexed in this CD ROM are available in microform in the Microform Reading Room. Others are available in hard copy. Reference librarians can assist in locating specific publications in the Library's collections.

Also indexed in Statistical Masterfile are selected state and local government statistical publications, as well as those of some private organizations. Many of these documents are also available in microfiche in the Microform Reading Room..

Related Subjects

• Law Library, including legal materials in both western and non-western languages.
• Science Reading Room for technical reports, and standards.
• Geography and Map Division for specialized map collections, including print editions of the Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps Collection. (Note: Digital reproductions of these maps are available on site in any of the Library's reading rooms through the ProQuest's Digital Sanborn Maps Collection: 1867-1970)
• Manuscript Reading Room and the Prints and Photographs Division for special collections of interest to business history research.